Everything is on the line on Saturday for the Wesleyan football team as the Cardinals travel to face Williams for a 1 PM kick off in a game that will make or break Wesleyan's chances for a NESCAC title while a win will give the Cardinals back-to-back outright Little Three Championships for the first time since 1969-70.
 
The Cardinals (5-2) are set to face an Ephs (2-4) squad that has struggled this season, losing 41-14 at home to Trinity in their last game after having not played last weekend, due to schedule changes following the tragedy in Lewiston, Maine. Williams comes in having won just once in their last five games, scoring 14 or less points in all four of those defeats. This is just the Ephs' third home game of the season as Williams defeated Colby 25-22 at home in the season opener before losing to the Bantams in Williamstown in Week 6.
 
Wesleyan is on the other end of the spectrum, rebounding following a pair of disappointing back-to-back road losses to Colby (20-13 OT) and Tufts (49-14) to win two straight at home including a dominating 34-7 win over Amherst last week, the largest Cardinal win over the Mammoths since 1992.
 
The series history against Williams has been largely one-sided recently, with Wesleyan winning seven straight meetings from 2013-19 before a 25-0 loss to the Ephs in Williamstown in 2021. Last season, however, Wesleyan took a one-sided affair with a 35-21 win wherein the Cardinals never trailed and outgained the Ephs 496-215 in total offense. Wesleyan generated 27 first downs in that contest, compared to just 12 for Williams, while showing great balance between the passing game (337 yards) and rushing (159). That win sealed the Little Three title for Wesleyan, which marked the program's third Little Three Championship since 2016.
 
Wesleyan comes into this meeting with the NESCAC's third-best scoring offense at 26.1 points per game and the fifth-best scoring defense (22.6). Williams has scored just 11 touchdowns in six games this season, averaging 13.8 points per game (9^th in NESCAC) while the Ephs' defense has been solid at 23.3 points allowed per game (6^th NESCAC).
 
Williams leans on the ground game, averaging 166 yards per game which is third-best in the NESCAC and nearly 40 yards better than the fourth-highest team. That'll contrast with Wesleyan's rush defense, which comes in allowing just 93 yards per game (3^rd-fewest in the NESCAC). Where Williams has struggled to move the ball is in the passing game, sporting the worst passing offense (134.7) by a wide margin, while the Ephs passing defense is third-worst at 244 yards allowed per game. Wesleyan looks to exploit that in this matchup as the Cardinals average 244.6 yards per game through the air (4^th NESCAC).
 
Standouts on offense this season for the Cardinals have been WR Chase Wilson '25, who made team history earlier this week, becoming the first Cardinal to earn two Gold Helmet Awards in the same season after putting up nine catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday's 27-point win over Amherst. He comes in with 41 catches for 639 yards and 10 TD through seven games, all of which rank second in the NESCAC. QB Niko Candido '25 has thrown for 1709 yards with a 55.9 completion percentage and 17 TD against 5 INT in seven games. Candido ranks Top 4 in the NESCAC in all major statistical categories. WR Thomas Elkhoury '24 has also put up solid numbers across the board with 37 catches for 517 yards and 3 TD.
 
On the defensive side, LB Ben Carbeau '25 ranks Top 5 in the NESCAC in tackles with 57 (8.1 per game) while DL Declan Welch '26 has a team-leading 3.5 sacks and CB Wesley Abraham '25 leads the NESCAC with four interceptions while ranking third in pass breakups with seven this season. CB Sean Walker '25 is tied for the NESCAC-lead with eight pass breakups in 2023.